As Dubois prepares for Usyk, can the British fighter pull off a shock win?
Daniel Dubois has the chance to shake up a stagnant heavyweight division on August 26th.
Whilst the division’s biggest names were involved in a seemingly endless series of negotiations and backbiting, the WBA’s mandatory challenger simply stayed quiet, bided his time and emerged from the turmoil as the man next in line to face the great Oleksandr Usyk. Dubois’ shot at the unified heavyweight title will come in Wroclaw, Poland. For all the latest fight odds, visit our sportsbook.
The unified champion will be welcomed as a hero in Poland. The arena is sure to be filled with thousands of his Ukrainian compatriots who have been displaced by the war raging in his homeland. The fight will also take place a couple of days after Ukrainian independence Day. Dubois will be fighting away from home for the first time. He is set to walk into a fervent atmosphere as a massive underdog.
Dubois isn’t the type to talk trash to aggravate his opponent or try to drive pay-per-view sales and although it is true that you can’t win a fight at a press conference or head to head stare down, you can certainly increase your chances of losing one. The 32Red ambassador held himself together during last week’s press activities and although he looked understandably tense at times, he didn’t look out of place.
The 25-year-old might even have been able to scrape together a bit of confidence from standing face-to-face with the great Ukrainian. Dubois is 11 years younger, a couple of inches taller and naturally bigger than the former cruiserweight champion.
“This is my time”
“100% I’m ready. We’re ready to rumble and this is it. I’m gonna bring those titles back home. This is my time.” Dubois said at the press conference to officially announce the fight. “Usyk has been a great champion but everything with a beginning, has an end. His 0 has got to go.
“I’ve gotta out-manoeuvre him in every way. I’m younger, I’m stronger and I’ve just gotta release it all. I’ve gotta unleash hell on this guy.
“I was born for this. Everything that’s led to me getting here makes me different. You guys are gonna see that.
“The bookies can say wherever they want. There’s no pressure on me. I never listen to any of that stuff anyway. This time I’m gonna be 100% ready to take those belts away.”
Dubois is going to need to hold grimly onto every bit of belief he can find and would do well to concentrate on those physical advantages and how to impose them on Usyk. If he lets the sheer size of the task he faces in August to dominate his thoughts, he might just allow himself to be beaten before the first bell.
Usyk is infinitely more accomplished and experienced. His list of opposition operate in a different universe to the calibre of fighters Dubois has been blasting through and in terms of skill and ability, Usyk has forgotten more about the sport than Dubois has ever known.
“I’ve gotta unleash hell on this guy”
Heavyweight boxing operates in a different realm to the rest of professional boxing. Dubois beating Usyk would be a monumental upset – arguably the biggest shock ever sprung by a British fighter – but the unique nature of the heavyweight division means that – bizarrely – it is somehow easier to imagine the Londoner putting a right hand on Usyk’s chin and shocking the world than it would be to imagine a top twenty contender doing a number on an elite super bantamweight or welterweight. Cliches are cliches because they are based on truth and it really does only take one punch in heavyweight boxing.
Dubois looks to have rebounded well mentally from his painful defeat to Joe Joyce two and a half years ago. He is on a run of four straight knockouts and there is little doubt that he has the power to stun Usyk and shock the boxing world. All he has to prove is that he has the footwork, the boxing brain and the patience to get himself into position to land it. Easy hey?
To make Dubois’ task even more daunting, this will be his first appearance since getting dropped three times and damaging his knee in a three-round shoot-out with Kevin Larena last December. Dubois will spar hard and do everything he can to prepare for Usyk but rather than feeling his way back into the business with some confidence-building target practice, Dubois will be stepping straight in with a modern great who fights on fast forward.
“Usyk is a modern great”
By the time the first bell rings, Usyk will have spent a year out of the ring himself. He and Tyson Fury found themselves caught up in the mire of boxing politics and after wasting months at the negotiating table, they shelved plans for a unification fight. With Fury tied up for the foreseeable future with MMA star Francis Ngannou, Usyk can further push his claims to be the best heavyweight on the planet by taking care of a young, ambitious, real boxer. It is highly unlikely the proud champion will overlook Dubois. Instead, he is the type to see the fight as an opportunity to put on a show.
“I think really highly of my opponent. He’s a nice guy, a nice man and a nice athlete,” Usyk said. “He got to the position of mandatory challenger so he deserves it. I have respect for him, his team and the people around him. But let’s stop talking so much and see each other on August 26th.”
The pair will see each other again in just over five weeks when they return to Poland and face off for the unified heavyweight title.
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